Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 25.djvu/352

 Snut/icrti Historical Society Papers.

1861, he was commissioned as brigadier-general, and assigned to the command of a military district extending from Smithfield, Va., to Weldon, N. C., and including 15,000 troops. In April, 1862, he and his brigade were, upon his request, ordered to Yorktown, Va., to reinforce General Magruder. He participated in numerous assaults and skirmishes on the peninsula, and in the battles of Williamsburg and Seven Pines.

In June, 1862, General Colston was stricken down with a severe attack of fever and jaundice, from which he did not recover until the following December; when he reported for duty and was assigned to- the command of a brigade of Southwestern Virginians, and was or- dered to Petersburg.

In April, 1863, by request of Stonewall Jackson, who had been for ten years his colleague in the faculty of the Virginia Military In- stitute, and knew him well, General Colston was assigned to the command of a brigade in Trimble's division, of Jackson's corps.

At Chancellorsville, at 6 o'clock P. M., May 2, 1863, the hour when Stonewall Jackson ordered his corps of 26,000 men to disclose their presence in rear of the right flank of General Hooker's grand army, Jackson's command was formed, with Rodes' division in front, Trimble's division under Colston (Trimble being disabled), in the second line two yards in the rear, and A. P. Hill's division in sup- porting distance in column. At the word, the "men burst with a cheer upon the startled enemy, and like a disciplined thunderbolt, swept down his line and captured cannon before they could be re- versed to fire." " Rodes, who led with so much spirit, said, that the enemy taken in flank and rear, did not wait for an attack. Col- ston's division followed so rapidly, that it went over the enemy's work at Lodall's Tavern with Rodes' troops, and both divisions fought with mixed ranks until dark." These extracts are from General Fitzhugh Lee's life of General Lee, in which he gives a graphic and picturesque account of this great event, which rounded out and finished the career of Stonewall Jackson.

Colston was, on duty, possibly a little impetuous.

After the death of Jackson, General Colston was ordered to report to General Beaureguard, and was placed in command of a brigade of Georgians at Savannah, and also in command of the defences of St. Augustine river. He was appreciated as a scientific soldier.

In the spring of 1864, when General Butler landed at City Point and threatened Petersburg, General Colston was ordered to Peters- burg, where he remained in command of the lines south of the